Peanut Butter & Jelly Smoothie (and the absence of sugar)

Day 8 of no sugar. The last sugar I had was at my dear friend’s 40th birthday party. Tres leche cake. Not a bad way to go out.

This was not planned. Last Sunday morning I had this tiny sliver of willingness to not eat sugar that day. The thing is, I’m a sugar addict. Like, hard core. Like, birthday cake is my favorite food and I could eat a bowl of butter cream frosting, no problem. I don’t think sugar is evil, and if I could eat it like a normal person, quitting it wouldn’t even be on my radar, but I am not a normal person around sugar.

Sugar makes my head very busy. Rather than subscribe to any kind of “diet” I loosely monitor my calories in order to maintain my weight. Now we all know that desserty, sugary things tend to have higher calories and less nutrients, and because I would rather eat sugar than just about anything else, there were many many days I would eat nothing but protein bars that taste like candy bars and maybe some broccoli. Okay, I’m exaggerating a bit, but taking sugar out of the equation makes my head much, much quieter. And rather than feel deprived, I’m excited that I get to focus on all the REAL foods I enjoy, which is a lot of different foods! In the last week, I’ve varied my diet more than I have since I was pregnant (and super focused on feeding myself and my baby well).

So far, it’s been pretty easy to not eat sugar. I think it’s because I’ve done this many times before, and because I know how to rock a sugar free dessert when I want to. Also this is the first time that I’m not attaching any moral judgement to not eating sugar (ie I don’t eat sugar-I’m good or I eat sugar-I’m bad), so there’s no pressure to be perfect or sustain this for the rest of my life. It’s just for now, and we’ll see how long now lasts.

I’ll be sharing my sugar free concoctions here to spread the love. It’s a revelation to make something that tastes as good as ice cream and is filled with only things that make your body thrive (I also love that I can share all my food with Ian).

PEANUT BUTTER & JELLY SMOOTHIE

This was breakfast for Ian and me today, and it should be your breakfast tomorrow.

2 frozen bananas (peel and cut them into chunks before freezing for easier blending)

1/2 cup frozen strawberries

2 Tbsp ground flax

1 Tbsp peanut butter

1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (or more if you want a thinner smoothie)